The Challenge of Neutrality : Diplomacy and the Defense of Switzerland

A study of Swiss neutrality during World War II. It asks two essential questions: Why, in the face of German imperialism - with its authoritarian, totalitarian and racist ideology - did Switzerland declare neutrality?

Why did it not join the "camp of democracies" or other European nations who resolved to hold firm against the Germans?

This insigh tful book attempts to answer these questions and offer an even-handed re-evaluation of the role of the principal actors in Swiss politics of the time, notably Marcel Pilet-Golaz, head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and General Guisan.